Stratospheric Memory and Skill of Extended-Range Weather Forecasts

We use an empirical statistical model to demonstrate significant skill in making extended-range forecasts of the monthly-mean Arctic Oscillation (AO). Forecast skill derives from persistent circulation anomalies in the lowermost stratosphere and is greatest during boreal winter. A comparison to the Southern Hemisphere provides evidence that both the time scale and predictability of the AO depend on the presence of persistent circulation anomalies just above the tropopause. These circulation anomalies most likely affect the troposphere through changes to waves in the upper troposphere, which induce surface pressure changes that correspond to the AO.

Caring at a distance: Gift Theory, aid chains and social movements

This paper takes as its starting point recent work on caring for distant others which is one expression of renewed interest in moral geographies. It examines relationships in aid chains connecting donors/carers in the First World or North and recipients/cared for in the Third World or South. Assuming predominance of relationships between strangers and of universalism as a basis for moral motivation I draw upon Gift Theory in order to characterize two basic forms of gift relationship. The first is purely altruistic, the other fully reciprocal and obligatory within the framework of institutions, values and social forces within specific relationships of politics and power. This conception problematizes donor-recipient relationships in the context of two modernist models of aid chains-the Resource Transfer and the Beyond Aid Paradigms. In the first, donor domination means low levels of reciprocity despite rhetoric about partnership and participation. The second identifies potential for greater reciprocity on the basis of combination between social movements and non-governmental organizations at both national and trans-national levels, although at the risk of marginalizing competencies of states. Finally, I evaluate post-structural critiques which also problematize aid chain relationships. They do so both in terms of bases-such as universals and difference-upon which it might be constructed and the means-such as forms of positionality and mutuality-by which it might be achieved.

Why the western Pacific subtropical high has extended westward since the late 1970s

The western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) is closely related to Asian climate. Previous examination of changes in the WPSH found a westward extension since the late 1970s, which has contributed to the inter-decadal transition of East Asian climate. The reason for the westward extension is unknown, however. The present study suggests that this significant change of WPSH is partly due to the atmosphere's response to the observed Indian Ocean-western Pacific (IWP) warming. Coordinated by a European Union's Sixth Framework Programme, Understanding the Dynamics of the Coupled Climate System (DYNAMITE), five AGCMs were forced by identical idealized sea surface temperature patterns representative of the IWP warming and cooling. The results of these numerical experiments suggest that the negative heating in the central and eastern tropical Pacific and increased convective heating in the equatorial Indian Ocean/ Maritime Continent associated with IWP warming are in favor of the westward extension of WPSH. The SST changes in IWP influences the Walker circulation, with a subsequent reduction of convections in the tropical central and eastern Pacific, which then forces an ENSO/Gill-type response that modulates the WPSH. The monsoon diabatic heating mechanism proposed by Rodwell and Hoskins plays a secondary reinforcing role in the westward extension of WPSH. The low-level equatorial flank of WPSH is interpreted as a Kelvin response to monsoon condensational heating, while the intensified poleward flow along the western flank of WPSH is in accord with Sverdrup vorticity balance. The IWP warming has led to an expansion of the South Asian high in the upper troposphere, as seen in the reanalysis.

Dynamic scaling of bred vectors in spatially extended chaotic systems

We unfold a profound relationship between the dynamics of finite-size perturbations in spatially extended chaotic systems and the universality class of Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ). We show how this relationship can be exploited to obtain a complete theoretical description of the bred vectors dynamics. The existence of characteristic length/time scales, the spatial extent of spatial correlations and how to time it, and the role of the breeding amplitude are all analyzed in the light of our theory. Implications to weather forecasting based on ensembles of initial conditions are also discussed.

Galactic cosmic ray hazard in the unusual extended solar minimum between solar cycle 23 and 24

Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) are extremely difficult to shield against and pose one of the most severe long-term hazards for human exploration of space. The recent solar minimum between solar cycles 23 and 24 shows a prolonged period of reduced solar activity and low interplanetary magnetic field strengths. As a result, the modulation of GCRs is very weak, and the fluxes of GCRs are near their highest levels in the last 25 years in the fall of 2009. Here we explore the dose rates of GCRs in the current prolonged solar minimum and make predictions for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER), which is now measuring GCRs in the lunar environment. Our results confirm the weak modulation of GCRs leading to the largest dose rates seen in the last 25 years over a prolonged period of little solar activity.

Sonogashira coupling on an extended gold surface in vacuo: reaction of phenylacetylene with iodobenzene on Au(111)

Temperature-programmed reaction measurements supported by scanning tunneling microscopy have shown that phenylacetylene and iodobenzene react on smooth Au(111) under vacuum conditions to yield biphenyl and diphenyldiacetylene, the result of homocoupling of the reactant molecules. They also produce diphenylacetylene, the result of Sonogashira cross-coupling, prototypical of a class of reactions that are of paramount importance in synthetic organic chemistry and whose mechanism remains controversial. Roughened Au(111) is completely inert toward all three reactions, indicating that the availability of crystallographically well-defined adsorption sites is crucially important. High-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy show that the reactants are initially present as intact, essentially flat-lying molecules and that the temperature threshold for Sonogashira coupling coincides with that for C−I bond scission in the iodobenzene reactant. The fractional-order kinetics and low temperature associated with desorption of the Sonogashira product suggest that the reaction occurs at the boundaries of islands of adsorbed reactants and that its appearance in the gas phase is rate-limited by the surface reaction. These findings demonstrate unambiguously and for the first time that this heterogeneous cross-coupling chemistry is an intrinsic property of extended, metallic pure gold surfaces: no other species, including solvent molecules, basic or charged (ionic) species are necessary to mediate the process.

The potential for competitive and healthy food chains of benefit to the countryside

Agricultural policy liberalisation, concern about unhealthy diets and growing recognition of the importance of sustainable land use have fostered interest in the development of competitive food chains based around products that are beneficial to the rural environment. We review the potential for foods with enhanced health attributes based on alternative varieties/breeds and production systems to traditional agriculture which has been predominantly motivated by yields. We concentrate on soft fruit, which is an important source of polyphenols, and grazing livestock systems that have the potential for improving fatty acid profiles in meat products and find there to be clear scientific potential, but limited research to date. Consumer research suggests considerable acceptance of such products and willingness to pay sufficient to cover additional production costs. Purchase of such foods could have major implications for agricultural land use and the rural environment. There is little research to date on specific healthier food products, but spatially explicit models are being developed to assess land use and environmental implications of changing demand and husbandry methods.

Trust and governance of global value chains: The case of a Brazilian beef processor

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to offer an exploratory case study comparing one Brazilian beef processor's relationships supplying two different distribution channels, an EU importer and an EU retail chain operating in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach - The paper begins with a short review of global value chains and the recent literature on trust. It gives the background to the Brazilian beef chain and presents data obtained through in-depth interviews, annual reports and direct observation with the Brazilian beef processor, the EU importer and the retailer. The interviews were conducted with individual firms, but the analysis places them in a chain context, identifying the links and relationships between the agents of the chains and aiming to describe each distribution channel. Findings - Executive chain governance exercised by the domestic retailer stimulates technical upgrading and transferring of best practices to local. suppliers. Consequently, this kind of relationship results in more trust within the global value chain. Practical implications - There are difficulties and challenges facing this Brazilian beef processor that are party related to the need to comply with increasingly complex and demanding food safety and food quality standards. There is still a gap between practices adopted for the export market and practices adopted locally. The strategies of transnational retailers in offering differentiated beef should be taken in account. Originality/value - The research outlines an interdisciplinary framework able to explain chain relationships and the kind of trust that emerges in relationships between EU importer/retail and a developing country supplier.

Host niches and defensive extended phenotypes structure parasitoid wasp communities

Oak galls are spectacular extended phenotypes of gallwasp genes in host oak tissues and have evolved complex morphologies that serve, in part, to exclude parasitoid natural enemies. Parasitoids and their insect herbivore hosts have coevolved to produce diverse communities comprising about a third of all animal species. The factors structuring these communities, however, remain poorly understood. An emerging theme in community ecology is the need to consider the effects of host traits, shaped by both natural selection and phylogenetic history, on associated communities of natural enemies. Here we examine the impact of host traits and phylogenetic relatedness on 48 ecologically closed and species-rich communities of parasitoids attacking gall-inducing wasps on oaks. Gallwasps induce the development of spectacular and structurally complex galls whose species- and generation-specific morphologies are the extended phenotypes of gallwasp genes. All the associated natural enemies attack their concealed hosts through gall tissues, and several structural gall traits have been shown to enhance defence against parasitoid attack. Here we explore the significance of these and other host traits in predicting variation in parasitoid community structure across gallwasp species. In particular, we test the "Enemy Hypothesis,'' which predicts that galls with similar morphology will exclude similar sets of parasitoids and therefore have similar parasitoid communities. Having controlled for phylogenetic patterning in host traits and communities, we found significant correlations between parasitoid community structure and several gall structural traits (toughness, hairiness, stickiness), supporting the Enemy Hypothesis. Parasitoid community structure was also consistently predicted by components of the hosts' spatiotemporal niche, particularly host oak taxonomy and gall location (e.g., leaf versus bud versus seed). The combined explanatory power of structural and spatiotemporal traits on community structure can be high, reaching 62% in one analysis. The observed patterns derive mainly from partial niche specialisation of highly generalist parasitoids with broad host ranges (>20 hosts), rather than strict separation of enemies with narrower host ranges, and so may contribute to maintenance of the richness of generalist parasitoids in gallwasp communities. Though evolutionary escape from parasitoids might most effectively be achieved via changes in host oak taxon, extreme conservatism in this trait for gallwasps suggests that selection is more likely to have acted on gall morphology and location. Any escape from parasitoids associated with evolutionary shifts in these traits has probably only been transient, however, due to subsequent recruitment of parasitoid species already attacking other host galls with similar trait combinations.

PDBSprotEC: A web-accessible database linking PDB chains to EC numbers via SwissProt

A mapping between chains in the Protein Databank and Enzyme Classification numbers is invaluable for research into structure-function relationships. Mapping at the chain level is a non-trivial problem and we present an automatically updated Web-server, which provides this link in a queryable form and as a downloadable XML or flat file.

Synthesis of the ester side chains of some potently antileukemic harringtonia alkaloids from chiral citrates

The selective reduction of one of the three carboxyl groups of two chiral citric acid derivatives to the corresponding aldehydes, under Rosenmund conditions, are reported together with the application of these aldehydes to the syntheses of the ester side chains of some potently antileukemic Cephalotaxus alkaloids e.g. anhydroharringtonine.

Anion-directed synthesis of metal-organic frameworks based on 2-picolinate Cu(II) complexes: a ferromagnetic alternating chain and two unprecedented ferromagnetic fish backbone chains

Three new polynuclear copper(II) complexes of 2-picolinic acid (Hpic), {[Cu-2(pic)(3)(H2O)]ClO4}(n) (1), {[Cu-2(pic)(3)(H2O)]BF4}(n) (2), and [Cu-2(pic)3(H2O)(2)(NO3)](n) (3), have been synthesized by reaction of the "metalloligand" [Cu-(pic)(2)] with the corresponding copper(II) salts. The compounds are characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses and variable-temperature magnetic measurements. Compounds 1 and 2 are isomorphous and crystallize in the triclinic system with space group P (1) over bar, while 3 crystallizes in the monoclinic system with space group P2(1)/n. The structural analyses reveal that complexes 1 and 2 are constructed by "fish backbone" chains through syn-anti (equatorial-equatorial) carboxylate bridges, which are linked to one another by syn-anti (equatorial-axial) carboxylate bridges, giving rise to a rectangular grid-like two-dimensional net. Complex 3 is formed by alternating chains of syn-anti carboxylate-bridged copper(II) atoms, which are linked together by strong H bonds involving coordinated nitrate ions and water molecules and uncoordinated oxygen atoms from carboxylate groups. The different coordination ability of the anions along with their involvement in the H-bonding network seems to be responsible for the difference in the final polymeric structures. Variable-temperature (2-300 K) magnetic susceptibility measurement shows the presence of weak ferromagnetic coupling for all three complexes that have been fitted with a fish backbone model developed for 1 and 2 (J = 1.74 and 0.99 cm(-1); J' = 0.19 and 0.25 cm(-1), respectively) and an alternating chain model for 3 (J = 1.19 cm(-1) and J' = 1.19 cm(-1)).

Extended-chain, multinuclear transition metal complexes bridged by cyanodiazenido(1-), [N=N-C=N](-), ligands

Extended-chain complexes containing multiple transition metal centres linked by conjugated mu-cyanodiazenido(1-) ligands [N= N-C N]-have been obtained by reaction of trans-[BrW(dppe)(2)(N2CN)], 1, [dppe = 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino) ethane] with dirhodium(II) tetra-acetate, bis(benzonitrile) palladium(II) dichloride, and bis(aqua) M(II) bis(hexa. uoroacetylacetonate) (M = Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn): stronger Lewis acids such as tetrakis(acetonitrile) palladium(II) tetra. uoroborate and boron trifl. uoride promote hydrolysis of complex 1, leading to the isolation of a novel carbamoylhydrazido(2-) complex, trans-[BrW(dppe) 2(N2HC=ONH2)](+)[BF4](-).